Evening Standard comment: London’s theatres need our support

Whatever the alarming scenes, we should not stay away from the West End’s theatres because of one unfortunate accident. Let’s get #theshowmustgoon trending

Friday 20 December 2013 11:00 BST

Last night’s shocking pictures from the Apollo Theatre highlight the task of patching up some of the West End’s ageing theatres. But they also show Londoners’ calm and resilience in coping with a crisis. When plaster and masonry came crashing down during last night’s performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, injuring 79 people, both theatregoers and staff showed remarkable calm in evacuating the building.

Now attention will shift to finding the causes of the accident: rain damage is suspected. The state of the West End’s beautiful but crumbling Victorian and Edwardian theatres has often been bemoaned by theatre owners: fixing them is very expensive. But it is essential not just for the obvious safety reasons. As well as its centrality to London’s cultural scene, theatreland is a huge part of the capital’s leisure and tourism economy too. In the past financial year almost a quarter of foreign visitors bought theatre tickets; in total theatre generates £4.6 billion for the economy. The West End quite simply would not be the same place without its theatres.

Whatever the alarming scenes last night, we should not stay away from the West End’s theatres because of one unfortunate accident. Theatre staff and emergency services deserve thanks for their calm and professionalism last night. But now the show must go on — and we urge Londoners and visitors alike to go to the theatre this holiday to ensure that it does. Let’s get #theshowmustgoon trending, and give us all a holiday season and New Year to remember.

After Woolwich

Yesterday's guilty verdicts against the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, bring to a close a particularly horrifying and pointless terrorist outrage. The pair wanted to become martyrs and spark a holy war in the name of Islam with their random targeting of a British soldier. In the event, last June these two pathetic, drug-addled misfits merely ended up revolting British people of all faiths — and taking the life of an innocent young father in the process.

There has been much debate about the response of the security services and police to such “lone wolf” terrorists. In fact, both men had had multiple contacts with other extremists, though they planned the attack alone. Questions are being asked about Adebolajo in particular, who had a long record of low-level extremist activity and a prison record for assaulting police officers in 2006, ostensibly for political reasons. In the end, it is simply impossible for MI5 to keep all such suspects under surveillance, especially those like Adebolajo who appear to be incompetent fantasists rather than serious would-be terrorists.

Ultimately, the case underlines once again the need for constant vigilance in the face of the Islamist threat. But it also proves once again London’s extraordinary unity and resilience in the face of such provocations. A city of

8.3 million people inevitably encompasses the evil and the deluded: but they cannot and will not break our spirit.

Chelsea vision

Today's images of the new design for the development of the old Chelsea Barracks site puts back on track a project that has been delayed far too long. After the site was bought in 2007, plans were derailed by Prince Charles’s high-handed intervention in 2009. Next year, at last, building will start: we look forward to seeing new homes in place of a building site.